I guess Sustainable Glasgow is still at that stage where a lot of folks are still asking "what is it?" "why is it?" and "who is it?" and I guess that is understandable due to the youth of our movement, but the events of this week would seem to answer all of those questions handily.
The situation that over 500,000 of our fellow Kentuckians find themselves in, with respect to the loss of the technology they depend upon, provides the perfect example of the risk we take by counting on distant companies to provide for our needs in good times and in bad. The larger the company (take AT&T and LG&E and KU for examples), the more difficult it becomes for the stockholders to make proper investments to adequately serve a community like Glasgow. They find it much easier to pay themselves bonuses and dividends. Of course, that is the nature of the beast. Companies who do business in a community where the owners do not live are there to extract money from the community and send it back to where the owners do live.
Sustainable Glasgow is a group that recognizes this vulnerability and is going to push for solutions that guarantee the self dependence that is necessary to assure that our lives are sustainable. Another great example of why we should be producing and consuming food within the geographic region known as "the Barrens" is the story we are all experiencing which you can view using this link. The story from ABC News explains the real truth behind the current salmonella outbreak related to peanut products. Clearly, like the bankers who are taking bail out funds and then giving them to themselves in the form of bonuses, many corporate executives consider their needs vastly more important than the needs of we consumers. Sustainable Glasgow plans to help trap money, and the benefits which flow from that money, in our community.
Who are we then? We are a group of local folks who dream of a network of local businesses which deliver goods and services to local residents in such a fashion that we do not fear storms of the natural type or storms of the economic variety. We are a group who has seen too many of our friends and neighbors toiling away for too long at the whims of corporations that couldn't care less about the lives of people in and around Glasgow. To quote Howard Beale from the 1976 movie Network, we are mad as hell and not going to take this anymore!
We could use your help. Become a member, come to our meetings, volunteer to help us establish the Bounty of the Barrens Market, a local garden plot project, and any of the many other initiatives that we have planned for the reinforcement of our local economy. Let's begin with a local initiative and wind up with a robust local economy, that fears neither ice nor recession, and feeds itself from the bounty of our land instead of a box of who-knows-what from a factory located who-knows-where.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Sort of a Sustainable Glasgow Blitz This Week!
We had a really good meeting on January 21. There were about thirty five folks in attendance. Rhonda Trautman gave a very good presentation on the Sustainable Glasgow movement and our short term, and long term goals. When Rhonda explained our two project goals for this year, the Bounty of the Barrens Market and the Garden Plot Project, lots of discussion ensued with great advice coming from members who have experience and expertise with existing markets in Glasgow and producers with advice and questions about our plans. This was just the sort of exchange of information we were looking for!
The community will be fully exposed to these two projects on Monday, January 26 at the regular meeting of the Glasgow City Council at City Hall in Glasgow at 7:00 p.m. We would love to have some of our members attend to help support Dr. Travis as he explains our ideas to the City Council and asks for their permission and support to establish the BOTB Market at the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center as well as the Garden Plot Project which is intended to allow prospective gardeners access to small plots on public property.
Lauren Ray also reminded us all that we desperately need for folks interested in this movement to fill our a membership application and get it back to her along with a $25 check for your 2009 membership. Sustainable Glasgow's accomplishments will be largely dependent upon the number of active members we can engage in the movement. Do you believe in what we are talking about? Do you think it possible for us to come together and make real improvements to our regional economy? If so, walk you belief by becoming an official member and standing up to be counted!
Another big item of discussion at the most recent meeting was the establishment of committees and the need for interested members to participate by volunteering to work on these committees. Are you willing to become intimately involved and get your hands dirty in one of our major initiatives? If so, please contact Lauren Ray at localfirst@glasgow-ky.com and let us know!
Check out our windows at 108 E. Public Square. First of all we were lucky enough to have this wonderful location furnished to us by Buddy and Zara Alexander and the team at Alexander Law Office (Thanks Buddy!) but now our luck continues as SG member Leigh AnneBotts has adorned our windows with some of her beautiful, LOCAL, artwork (Thanks Leigh Anne!). As you travel around Glasgow's square, make sure to give it a look and contact Leigh Anne if you want to make your home look as good as our windows do! Hopefully, you will soon be able to view our conceptual plan for the Bounty of the Barrens Market in that window as well. Dr. Travis will be using an outstanding drawing provided by our local mapping experts at Barrens Information Technology System (BITS) to help everyone at the meeting visualize the central market we want to establish. After the meeting, we will incorporate it into the window display at our office so everyone can see it. Heck, I might even try to figure out how to post here!
The community will be fully exposed to these two projects on Monday, January 26 at the regular meeting of the Glasgow City Council at City Hall in Glasgow at 7:00 p.m. We would love to have some of our members attend to help support Dr. Travis as he explains our ideas to the City Council and asks for their permission and support to establish the BOTB Market at the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center as well as the Garden Plot Project which is intended to allow prospective gardeners access to small plots on public property.
Lauren Ray also reminded us all that we desperately need for folks interested in this movement to fill our a membership application and get it back to her along with a $25 check for your 2009 membership. Sustainable Glasgow's accomplishments will be largely dependent upon the number of active members we can engage in the movement. Do you believe in what we are talking about? Do you think it possible for us to come together and make real improvements to our regional economy? If so, walk you belief by becoming an official member and standing up to be counted!
Another big item of discussion at the most recent meeting was the establishment of committees and the need for interested members to participate by volunteering to work on these committees. Are you willing to become intimately involved and get your hands dirty in one of our major initiatives? If so, please contact Lauren Ray at localfirst@glasgow-ky.com and let us know!
Check out our windows at 108 E. Public Square. First of all we were lucky enough to have this wonderful location furnished to us by Buddy and Zara Alexander and the team at Alexander Law Office (Thanks Buddy!) but now our luck continues as SG member Leigh AnneBotts has adorned our windows with some of her beautiful, LOCAL, artwork (Thanks Leigh Anne!). As you travel around Glasgow's square, make sure to give it a look and contact Leigh Anne if you want to make your home look as good as our windows do! Hopefully, you will soon be able to view our conceptual plan for the Bounty of the Barrens Market in that window as well. Dr. Travis will be using an outstanding drawing provided by our local mapping experts at Barrens Information Technology System (BITS) to help everyone at the meeting visualize the central market we want to establish. After the meeting, we will incorporate it into the window display at our office so everyone can see it. Heck, I might even try to figure out how to post here!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Chefs Hope Obama will Change Food Policy - for the Better - Local is the Key!
Hello SG,
Yahoo News posted this article from the Associated Press outlining a push from national top chef to push for better food policies regarding Obama's role in changing the nation's view of food. This clearly shows a national interest in what SG is attempting to do locally.
The article:
WASHINGTON – Visiting one of his favorite Chicago restaurants in November, Barack Obama was asked by an excited waitress if he wanted the restaurant's special margarita made with the finest ingredients, straight up and shaken at the table.
"You know that's the way I roll," Obama replied jokingly.
Rick Bayless, the chef of that restaurant, Topolobampo, says Obama's comfortable demeanor at the table — slumped contentedly in his chair, clearly there to enjoy himself — bodes well for the nation's food policy. While former President George W. Bush rarely visited restaurants and didn't often talk about what he ate, Obama dines out frequently and enjoys exploring different foods.
"He's the kind of diner who wants to taste all sorts of things," Bayless says. "What I'm hoping is that he's going to recognize that we need to do what we can in our country to encourage real food for everyone."
Phrases like "real food" and "farm-to-table" may sound like elitist jargon tossed around at upscale restaurants. But the country's top chefs, several of whom traveled to Washington for Obama's inauguration this week, hope that Obama's flair for good food will encourage people to expand their horizons when it comes to what they eat.
These chefs tout locally grown, environmentally friendly and — most importantly — nutritious food. They urge diners, even those who may never be able to afford to eat at their restaurants, to grow their own vegetables, shop at farmer's markets and pay attention to where their food comes from.
Dan Barber, chef at New York's popular Blue Hill restaurant and a frequent critic of the country's food policy, says a few small gestures from the president and first lady Michelle Obama could accomplish what many of the chefs have been working toward for years.
"I recognize that I'm an elitist guy," says Barber, who cooked a $500-a-plate meal for incoming Obama aides and other guests at a small charity fundraiser the night before the inauguration. "Increasingly raise awareness, but don't do it through chefs like me. ... My advice would be more of a symbolic nature, and to not underestimate what can be done through the White House."
Barber said good food needs more publicity, and he hopes Obama and his wife will advertise what they are eating and what they are feeding their children, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha.
Many high-end chefs like Barber believe that most food in the United States is over-processed, over-subsidized and grown with no regard to the environment, making it harder for small farms to make a profit selling more natural, nutritious food.
Barber cooks with food grown at his farm, the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, N.Y. At the pre-inauguration fundraiser, organized along with several other dinners by food guru Alice Waters, passed hors d'oeuvres included carrots, lettuce and cauliflower — untarnished and raw, delicious in their natural form. Sweet beets had been recently chiseled from Stone Barns' frozen ground, and hog snouts left over from slaughter were used as a garnish on a plate of Maine sea scallops.
Most of the chefs say they realize food policy and government support for larger corporate farms won't change any time soon. Congress, with Obama's support, overwhelmingly enacted a $290 billion farm bill last year that directs many subsidies to the largest agricultural players.
But Obama has already given chefs like Barber a small reason to hope. At his confirmation hearing, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made an overture to the growing number of food groups and experts who have criticized government subsidies for large corporate farms, saying he will seek to work "with those who seek programs and practices that lead to more nutritious food produced in a sustainable way."
"There's a lot of work that can be done in this area," Vilsack said after he was sworn in.
Other chefs in town for the inauguration and Waters' dinners had many suggestions to improve food policy. Daniel Boulud, the veteran New York chef of the restaurant Daniel who has cooked for at least five former presidents, said he thinks the Department of Agriculture should form an agency that exclusively oversees small farms. Lidia Bastianich, a New York-based Italian chef who has starred in several cooking shows on public television, says the government needs to encourage regulations and incentives to small farmers to give them the opportunity to compete against the "big giants."
Chef Tom Colicchio, the lead judge on the popular cable television series "Top Chef," agrees. He says foods that are genetically engineered should be labeled as such and fewer subsidies should go to corporate farms.
But despite loftier goals, Bayless, the Chicago chef, says the Obamas could make a world of difference if they just publish what they are eating every day.
"Everyone's going to want to be like the Obamas," he said.
Yahoo News posted this article from the Associated Press outlining a push from national top chef to push for better food policies regarding Obama's role in changing the nation's view of food. This clearly shows a national interest in what SG is attempting to do locally.
The article:
WASHINGTON – Visiting one of his favorite Chicago restaurants in November, Barack Obama was asked by an excited waitress if he wanted the restaurant's special margarita made with the finest ingredients, straight up and shaken at the table.
"You know that's the way I roll," Obama replied jokingly.
Rick Bayless, the chef of that restaurant, Topolobampo, says Obama's comfortable demeanor at the table — slumped contentedly in his chair, clearly there to enjoy himself — bodes well for the nation's food policy. While former President George W. Bush rarely visited restaurants and didn't often talk about what he ate, Obama dines out frequently and enjoys exploring different foods.
"He's the kind of diner who wants to taste all sorts of things," Bayless says. "What I'm hoping is that he's going to recognize that we need to do what we can in our country to encourage real food for everyone."
Phrases like "real food" and "farm-to-table" may sound like elitist jargon tossed around at upscale restaurants. But the country's top chefs, several of whom traveled to Washington for Obama's inauguration this week, hope that Obama's flair for good food will encourage people to expand their horizons when it comes to what they eat.
These chefs tout locally grown, environmentally friendly and — most importantly — nutritious food. They urge diners, even those who may never be able to afford to eat at their restaurants, to grow their own vegetables, shop at farmer's markets and pay attention to where their food comes from.
Dan Barber, chef at New York's popular Blue Hill restaurant and a frequent critic of the country's food policy, says a few small gestures from the president and first lady Michelle Obama could accomplish what many of the chefs have been working toward for years.
"I recognize that I'm an elitist guy," says Barber, who cooked a $500-a-plate meal for incoming Obama aides and other guests at a small charity fundraiser the night before the inauguration. "Increasingly raise awareness, but don't do it through chefs like me. ... My advice would be more of a symbolic nature, and to not underestimate what can be done through the White House."
Barber said good food needs more publicity, and he hopes Obama and his wife will advertise what they are eating and what they are feeding their children, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha.
Many high-end chefs like Barber believe that most food in the United States is over-processed, over-subsidized and grown with no regard to the environment, making it harder for small farms to make a profit selling more natural, nutritious food.
Barber cooks with food grown at his farm, the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, N.Y. At the pre-inauguration fundraiser, organized along with several other dinners by food guru Alice Waters, passed hors d'oeuvres included carrots, lettuce and cauliflower — untarnished and raw, delicious in their natural form. Sweet beets had been recently chiseled from Stone Barns' frozen ground, and hog snouts left over from slaughter were used as a garnish on a plate of Maine sea scallops.
Most of the chefs say they realize food policy and government support for larger corporate farms won't change any time soon. Congress, with Obama's support, overwhelmingly enacted a $290 billion farm bill last year that directs many subsidies to the largest agricultural players.
But Obama has already given chefs like Barber a small reason to hope. At his confirmation hearing, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made an overture to the growing number of food groups and experts who have criticized government subsidies for large corporate farms, saying he will seek to work "with those who seek programs and practices that lead to more nutritious food produced in a sustainable way."
"There's a lot of work that can be done in this area," Vilsack said after he was sworn in.
Other chefs in town for the inauguration and Waters' dinners had many suggestions to improve food policy. Daniel Boulud, the veteran New York chef of the restaurant Daniel who has cooked for at least five former presidents, said he thinks the Department of Agriculture should form an agency that exclusively oversees small farms. Lidia Bastianich, a New York-based Italian chef who has starred in several cooking shows on public television, says the government needs to encourage regulations and incentives to small farmers to give them the opportunity to compete against the "big giants."
Chef Tom Colicchio, the lead judge on the popular cable television series "Top Chef," agrees. He says foods that are genetically engineered should be labeled as such and fewer subsidies should go to corporate farms.
But despite loftier goals, Bayless, the Chicago chef, says the Obamas could make a world of difference if they just publish what they are eating every day.
"Everyone's going to want to be like the Obamas," he said.
Monday, January 19, 2009
NEXT MEETING
The next Sustainable Glasgow meeting will be this Wednesday, January 21 at 12pm. This is a "bring your own lunch" event at our usual meeting place at 108 E Public Square in Glasgow (below Alexander Law). We need to hear from you, so please come and bring all of your ideas and suggestions.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Exciting Opportunities for SG Members!
The governing board of Sustainable Glasgow met on Thursday, January 15, 2009 to discuss a few of the projects that SG is planning to take on in the coming months. One of these is the implementation of a local "Bounty of the Barrens" market in Glasgow/Barren County. At our next community meeting on WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21 at 12PM we will report on our progress in getting this started for the upcoming growing (and producing) season. Your help as producers, customers, advertisers, merchants, and manpower is needed and we will discuss how you can get involved in this project.
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